1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device management network system for managing an operation status of network devices, a management server for constructing the device management network system, and a computer readable medium stored with a program which causes a computer to operate as the management server.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, due to price reduction in computers and LAN related devices, many companies are pursuing networking of various kinds of devices for business use, such as personal computers, printers, fax machines, etc. As a result, a task of administrating the network has attained considerable importance in order to maintain the conduct of business, and therefore, network systems have been developed, each of which allows a network administrator to inquire the operation status of network devices with his own computer. FIG. 14 shows an example of such network systems.
A management server 41 in this network system periodically collects status information from network printers 42 (only one network printer 42 is illustrated in the figure) to be managed. When receiving a particular HTTP request from a client device 43 running a Web browser, the management server 41 generates an HTML data, which causes the Web browser to display a Web page showing the operation status of the network printer 42, based on the collected status information, and returns it to the client device 43.
This network system allows a user (a network administrator) to inquire the operation status of any network printer 42 with his client device 43. However, the network system has disadvantages in that the user cannot grasp a current operation status of the printer 42, unless the user instructs the Web browser to re-load the Web page. If the Web browser is set to repeat the re-loading process, the user can monitor the operation status of the network printer 42 almost in real time, however, in this case, the network traffic for monitoring the operation status of the network printer 42 increases, thereby, degrading the performance of the network.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a device management network system capable of monitoring the operation status of network devices in real time by a Web browser without wasting the network resources and a management server capable of implementing such a device management network system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer readable medium stored with a program that causes a computer to operate such a management server.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, in constructing a device management network system including a management server, one or more network devices to be managed, and one or more client devices each having a Web browser, the present invention uses, as each of the one or more network devices, a device including a monitoring part for motoring status of managed objects; a status information storing part for storing status information representing monitoring results of the monitoring part; an informing part for informing the management server of a change of operation status when a change in the status of the managed objects is detected by the monitoring part; and a request responding part for responding to a status information request from the management server with the status information in the status information storing part.
As the management server, the present invention uses a server including a screen data request responding part for, when receiving a screen data request containing identification information to identify a network device among the one or more network devices, obtaining status information of the network device specified by the identification information by sending the status information request to the network device, generating screen data based on the obtained status information, then sending the screen data to the client device that sent the screen data request; a device-details screen request responding part for responding with device-details HTML data to a device-details screen request containing identification information to identify a network device among the one or more network devices from a client device running a Web browser, the device-details HTML data causing the client device to execute a device-details screen display process, which is to send the screen data request to the management server, and to display a device-details screen using the screen data that is sent from the screen data request responding part in response to the screen data request, the device- details HTML data also causing the client device to re-execute the device-details screen display process upon receiving a change notifying message; a usage situation information storing part for storing usage situation information representing relationship between a client device to which a screen data has been sent and a network device associating-with the screen data; a specifying part for, when a change of operation status is informed from a network device among the one or more network devices, specifying a client device that is displaying a device-details screen of the network device based on the usage situation information stored in the usage situation storing part; and a message sending part for sending the status change notifying message to the client device specified by the specifying part.
That is, each network device in the device management network system of the present invention informs the management server of a change of operation status when a status change occurs. When the change is informed from a network device, the management server specifies the client device displaying the device-details screen of the network device based on the usage situation information, and sends the change notifying message to the specified client device. The client device (Web browser) displaying the device-details screen, when receiving the change notifying message, sends the screen data request to the management server. The management server receiving the screen data request, again retrieves the status information from the network device to generate a new screen data, and sends the generated screen data to the client device. The client device receiving the screen data re-displays the device-details screen using the data.
Because the device-details screen is displayed in a manner described above, according to this device management network system, it is possible to monitor the operation status of network devices in real time without degrading performance of the network.
In realizing the device management network system of the present invention, it is possible to add to the management server an applet storing part which stores an displaying applet, which causes a client device to execute the device-details screen display process, and an notifying applet, which causes the client device in which the displaying applet is executed to re-execute the displaying applet when receiving the change notifying message, and to adopt the device-details screen request responding part which generates the device-details HTML data including an applet tag for the displaying applet in the applet storing part and an applet tag for the notifying applet in the applet storing part.
Furthermore, it is possible to adopt the device-details screen request responding:part which generates the device-details HTML data including data for causing the client device to send termination notifying message to the management server when use of the device-details HTML data is terminated, and to add a deleting part for, when termination notifying message is received, deleting usage situation information relating to a client device that has outputted the termination notifying message from the usage situation information storing part.
Also, in realizing the device management network system of the present invention, the management server may additionally have the functions of a client device.
The network devices by the present device management network system may be of any kind. For example, network printers each having the monitoring part which monitors a paper feeder, a printing engine, and so on may be used as the network devices.
The communication protocol between the network devices and the management server may also be of any kind. For example, as the notifying part of the network device, a part that will notify the management server of the change of the operation status with an SNMP trap message may be used.
In another aspect, a management server of the present invention is apparatus to be attached to a network including one or more network devices and one or more client devices having a Web browser, the management server comprising: a screen data request responding part for, when receiving a screen data request containing identification information to identify a network device among the one or more network devices, obtaining a status information of the network device specified by the identification information, and generating screen data based on the obtained status information, then sending the screen data to the client device that sent the screen data request; a device-details screen request responding part for responding with device-details HTML data to a device-details screen request containing identification information to identify a network device among the one or more network devices from a client device running a Web browser, the device-details HTML data causing the client device to execute a device-details screen display process, which is to send:the screen data request to the management server, and to display a device-details screen using the screen data that is sent from the screen data request responding part in response to the screen data request, the device-details HTML data also causing the client device to re-execute the device-details screen display process upon receiving a change notifying message; a usage situation information storing part for storing usage situation information representing relationship between a client device to which a screen data has been sent and a network device associating with the screen data; a specifying part for, when a change of operation status is informed from a network device among the one or more network devices, specifying a client device that is displaying a device-details screen of the network device based on the information stored in the usage situation storing part; and a message sending part for sending the status change notifying message to the client device specified by the specifying part.
Use of this management server in combination of network devices equipped with the above-mentioned parts leads to a device management network system that is capable of monitoring the operation status of the network devices in real time via Web browsers without degrading the performance of the network.
In constructing the management server of the present invention, it is possible to use the device-details screen request responding part which generates the device-details HTML data including an applet tag for causing the client device to execute the device-details screen display process and an applet tag for causing the client device to re-execute the device-details screen display process when receiving a change notifying message.
Furthermore, in constructing the management server of the present invention, it is possible to add an applet storing part which stores an displaying applet, which causes a client device to execute the device-details screen display process, and an notifying applet, which causes the client device in which the displaying applet is executed to re-execute the displaying applet when receiving the change notifying message, and to adopt the device-details screen request responding part which generates the device-details HTML data including an applet tag for the displaying applet in the applet storing part and an applet tag for the notifying applet in the applet storing part.
In another aspect, a computer readable medium of the present invention stores a program for causing a computer to function as the management server of the present invention. Accordingly, by installing the program stored on this computer readable medium onto a computer, the resultant computer can function as the management server of the present invention.